Wednesday, 26 October 2016

It's Halloween (almost).
And I've remembered in time (just) that I made lots of Halloween themed food last year, which I never shared.
We had a whole day where all of the meals and snacks were spooky (apart from breakfast - so 66% meals... whatever!)

I made them to offset the Halloween sadness over being given treats and snacks at several Halloween functions that weren't dairy free. Understandable both from a logistical perspective, and from a small-child upset point of view.

Saturday, 30 April 2016

They are a community based charity which provides free birthday cakes, baked and decorated by volunteers, to children and families that would otherwise be unlikely to have one.They have volunteer groups all across the UK, so if you think you'd like to use your cake decorating skills to bring a little bit of sunshine to children and young people coping with a whole range of difficult situations, then find one near you on the website and sign up!

I planned a holiday-themed food blog post. Some nice photos, local produce, etc.

Instead, this is what I ended up with when sorting through the holiday snaps....

Tinned spaghetti hoops, heated in the can on mini stove, accompanied by peanut butter bagels. Sheltering behind a rock from the wind.

Oatcakes. Topped with peanut butter (a recurring theme) and dried apricots. We actually ate these in the car, parked in front of a really lovely hotel, because it was too late in the day to stop for that long with Mini-M. And we looked like drowned rats from a wet walk.

Camping stove. Boiling water to make up instant noodle soup.

Marshmallow and sausage. Cremated together on the same stick.

Go us, and our high standard of culinary excellence....

(We were on holiday in Kintyre - bottom picture is Westport Beach. The fact that it was 8 degrees with squally heavy showers meant we had it to ourselves - the joys of Scottish holidays!)

Sunday, 6 March 2016

There area officially not enough hours in the day.
I'd personally like about 28 each day I think - if anyone could sort that out it would be much appreciated!
Until then, shortcuts are required: kitchen time is finite, and since I use up a fair amount of it baking birthday cakes for Free Cakes For Kids, what's left has to be quick and easy.

Take the pastry out of the fridge about 30 mins before you want to use it.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Make the grain pot according to the pack instructions.
Mix together the rehydrated grains, cauli-rice and humous together.
Unroll the pastry.
Spread the filling in a line down one half long-ways, leaving a centimetre gap all around the edge for sealing.
Brush around the edge very lightly with beaten egg, then fold over the other half.
Seal by pressing down with a fork.
Brush all over with the rest of the beaten egg.
Pierce a few fork holes in the top to allow steam to escape.
Slide onto a baking sheet and bake for around 30-40m until golden brown and puffed up.
Cool very slightly before slicing and serving.

We enjoyed it with a salad. The filling stayed nice and firm - making it a good veggie sausage roll contender, just with a lot more flavour.

Wednesday, 27 January 2016

Since it is/was Chocolate Cake day today, I thought I'd better bake one!

Here's a white chocolate and apricot loaf, which I'm taking with me to a work meeting tomorrow.

For that reason, I can't tell you how it tastes, as passing round a half-eaten cake doesn't seem so hospitable! It smells gooooood but certainly doesn't look fancy - although as I was often told growing up, it's what's on the inside that counts!

It's adapted from Nigella's "Storecupboard Chocolate Orange Cake". I'm trying to reduce the amount of typing I do, so here's my spidery recipe scrawl… (click on the picture to see the full image and method)